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Robot Damashii Mordred

April 6, 2016

I always told myself that I would never succumb to paying the crazy premium prices for Exclusive and Limited Release Robot Damashii figures. I thought I’d be pretty well sated with just the regular release line-up – I consider myself a die-hard Code Geass fan, but I don’t think I’d be too down to shell out over $100 for a limited-run Galahad figure when it shared 90% of its body with the regular Gawain.

Despite all that though, when I picked up the Robot Damashii Tristan, it just didn’t feel right having it around without its partner frame, the Mordred. They spent more than half the series kicking Black Knight arse together, so I immediately looked into how much the exclusive Mordred was. Turns out, it was really only as expensive as I’ve seen some regular Lancelots going for.

Mordred is of course the series’ resident heavy bruiser, piloted by the petite pink-haired female pilot who generally tries to solve things by shooting at them with her big Wave Motion Gun.

The usual Knightmare Frame proportions of long lanky arms and a big ‘ol block out back for the cockpit continue here, and the gold bits mark it as a distinctly Britannian design, despite appearing much less “royal” than the Tristan or Lancelot.

The cockpit opens through two latches, and the seat pulls back a bit, but you can’t see much else but that. It’s nice that the opening cockpit feature is even there, but a pull-off panel that reveals the entirety of the interior would be even better, the way Bandai’s model kits did it.

If I’m honest, there’s not so much that Mordred can really do; the design is inherently meant to look bulky and stationary – having it pull of dynamic poses (it can’t do many) just looks off and totally off-character.

I don’t even remember if the Mordred ever bothered to use its Land Spinners instead of just floating around to wherever it needed to be, but at least they’re included here. The wheels do admittedly look cheap and almost kiddish, but at least the joints they’re on are fully adjustable.

Hand options are very basic – open palms, closed fists, and the dedicated gun-wielding set. As I mentioned, Mordred’s articulation is certainly there…it just feels wrong doing anything with it.

The only real accessories included on this figure all go toward recreating the Knightmare’s main method of fire. The shoulder control arms are totally replaced and swapped out; you use the same big shoulder pads but also have to add the actual cannon tips and barrels in.

Two handles also sandwich in between the shoulder armor, and with a long and short stationary control arm plugged in on the top and bottom, you can basically just slot this entire assembly into Mordred’s torso and arms.

Talk about clunky. The real downside here is that the Frame’s missile-firing gimmick isn’t included at all. I get that those are tiny features that require extra engineering for all the opening panels and whatnot, but it would’ve been cool to have nonetheless.

I should also point out now that the central cannon barrel piece came in all gray – it was seriously lacking some detail. As such, I went in with some red and black paint to break things up a bit and add some character. I can’t believe what the normal version looks like now – this should be standard fare.

I also went ahead and panel lined some small areas like the head and chest – I was actually kind of surprised that the silver vent-like protrusions on the shoulders/cannon case were pre-painted. I didn’t think they’d care that much about the details, given how dull the cannon barrel originally was.

The points between the shoulders and torso is where the cannon connects and therefore moves on. Because they move in a full circle, you could technically rotate everything past Mordred’s head and have it pointing its big ‘ol beam backwards. It’s essentially like having four arms linking the cannon assembly to the Frame.

This is basically all you get the figure for – this pose. It’s iconic within the series, yes, but the figure itself doesn’t offer much playability. I soon realized even this is kind of disappointing because the gun is so massive it kinda hides Mordred’s head at most angles.

But of course, having them displayed together in partner tandem was pretty worth it, while it lasted. I’ve long sold both of these guys off, so at least I got my money’s worth back.

I’d consider myself a pretty die-hard Code Geass fan – the fact that I’ve ever even bothered with these Knightmares that most people wouldn’t care for as mech designs kinda shows that, I think. I’m pretty aware that the Knightmare Frame market is definitely a niche – I was honestly surprised I managed to sell all of mine within two months. That being said, even I don’t think these figures are really worth their market price.

The quality is generally mid-tier, with nub marks and plastic swirls more a regularity than a rarity. They also usually lack a lot of the features that the Knnightmares displayed in-show (Tristan’s Slash Harken Blaster, Mordred’s missiles), so in that aspect they really just meet the minimum requirements as figures. It’s too bad too – you really don’t have much else to choose from if you want a figure representation of your favorite Knightmare or just a collection of the Knights of the Round (this was once a dream – probably forever unrealized now). Bandai’s only made a small handful of kits, and when I say that I mean about 3 different Frames – variations of the same Knightmare don’t count.